MLB News and Notes Wednesday 7/22

Wednesday's Afternoon Action
By Brian Edwards

Gamblers can get started early Wednesday with a trio of business man specials in MLB. The Yankees will send A.J. Burnett to the hill to face Baltimore, while Philadelphia’s Jamie Moyer will toe the rubber against the Cubs. In NL Central action, Pittsburgh will play host to Milwaukee in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Let’s take a look at each of these three games and more.

**Brewers at Pirates**

--Until losing Monday’s series opener, Milwaukee had won 17 consecutive head-to-head meetings against the Pirates. The Brewers have now taken 18 of 19 from Pittsburgh after capturing a 2-0 win Tuesday behind Braden Looper's gem.

--Jeff Suppan (5-7, 4.43 ERA) is 13-3 with a 4.22 lifetime ERA against Pittsburgh. The right-hander has done his best work on the road this season, posting a 4-2 record and 3.29 ERA in 11 starts.

--Paul Maholm (6-4, 4.28) will get the starting nod for the Pirates, who are 25-18 at home in PNC Park this year. Maholm is 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA in eight home assignments.

--Milwaukee is 24-24 on the road this season. The Brewers are an abysmal 11-20 in day games.

--The Pirates are also an atrocious 11-20 in day games.

--Milwaukee has watched the ‘over’ go 45-45 overall, 26-20 in its road games.

--The Pirates have seen the ‘under’ go 51-38 overall, 27-15 in their home outings.

--Maholm will get this contest started by facing the Milwaukee leadoff hitter at 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

**Orioles at Yankees**

--New York pulled into a first-place tie with Boston in the American League East by virtue of a 2-1 home win over Baltimore on Monday. Hideki Matsui belted a walk-off homer to propel the Bronx Bombers to victory in the series opener against the O’s. With Tuesday's 6-4 win over the O's, coupled with Boston's loss at Texas, Joe Girardi's team is now one game ahead of the Red Sox for the division lead.

--A.J. Burnett (8-4, 3.81) owns an 8-1 record and 4.83 career ERA against Baltimore. The hard-throwing righty is 3-1 with a 3.81 ERA in nine home starts at the new Yankee Stadium this season. Burnett is 3-0 with a 4.10 ERA in six starts for day games.

--After watching Burnett throw in-person many times during the 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons when he was with the Marlins, I thought he had greatness written all over him. At that time if you would’ve told me he would only have 95 career wins at the age of 32 midway through the 2009 campaign, I would’ve said you’re nuts. Nevertheless, Burnett carries a 95-80 career mark into this spot. Now that’s not bad at all, but it’s nowhere near greatness. He has just one season of winning more than 12 games (18 with Toronto in 2008).

--Jason Berken (1-7, 6.44) has had a rough go of it as a rookie so far. The right-hander has been particularly ineffective on the road, where he’s compiled a 0-3 record and 10.26 ERA in four starts. On the bright side, just one of Berken’s 10 starts came during the day and he was outstanding, pitching seven innings and allowing just four hits and one earned run.

--Baltimore has limped to a 15-30 road record, while the Yankees are 31-16 in their new home stadium.

--The ‘over’ is 45-44 overall for the Orioles, 26-18 in their road games.

--The ‘over’ is 45-43 overall for the Yankees, 23-21 in their road outings.

--This game will come off the board at 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

**Cubs at Phillies**

--Philadelphia has won 10 in a row after winning a 4-1 decision last night on Jayson Werth's walk-off three-run homer at Citizens Bank Ballpark. The Phillies, who pounded the Cubs by a 10-1 count as short favorite in the series opener, hooked up money-line backers like me with a delicious plus-180 payout (risk $100 to win $180) on Monday and a plus-170 return last night.

--Chicago got the second half of the season off to an outstanding start by sweeping the Nationals in Washington. Unfortunately for Sweet Lou and Co., that momentum has come to a halt the last two nights in the City of Brotherly Love. The Cubbies will try to dodge the sweep in this afternoon tilt.

--Jamie Moyer (9-6, 5.58) is off one of his best performances of the year, throwing seven scoreless innings in a win at Florida. The ageless left-hander is 3-0 with a 3.44 ERA in his last three outings. Moyer is also 3-0 with a 4.19 ERA in six lifetime starts against the Cubs.

--Derek Lee is 4-for-8 (.500) against Moyer with three doubles. Alfonso Soriano is 11-for-50 (.220) off the southpaw with four homers, while Aramis Ramirez is hitless in 10 career at-bats.

--Carlos Zambrano (6-4, 3.36) owns a 4-2 record and 2.91 ERA in nine road assignments this season. He’s 2-2 with a 4.26 ERA during day games. Zambrano, who has 102 wins at the age of 28, is 3-3 with a 3.38 ERA in seven career starts against Philadelphia.

--Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins is only 3-for-17 (.176) against Zambrano, while Ryan Howard is 3-for-13 (.231) without a home run. Raul Ibanez, who smacked his team-leading 25th homer in Monday’s 10-1 victory, will be facing Zambrano for the first time.

--The Cubs are 9-10 versus lefties in 2009.

--The ‘under’ is 45-41 overall for the Phillies, 27-18 in their home games.

--The ‘under’ has gone 50-39 overall for the Cubs, 26-18 in their road outings.

--The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

**B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets**

--San Francisco RHP Tim Lincecum has been untouchable against the Braves in five career starts, compiling a 5-0 record and 2.08 ERA.

--Boston RHP Tim Wakefield has traditionally struggled against Texas, posting a 10-15 record and 5.98 career ERA. The veteran knuckleballer was supposed to get the ball Wednesday but was instead put on the disabled list Tuesday. Clay Bucholz will get the nod for Wakefield.

--The ‘under’ had cashed in eight straight Toronto games.

--Atlanta RHP Tommy Hanson worked seven strong innings Monday, fanning 11 batters in a 11-3 win over San Francisco. Chipper Jones had a pair of hits, including his 11th homer of the season, while Garret Anderson continued his hot hitting with his seventh dinger of the year.

--San Francisco LHP Jonathan Sanchez made his first start Monday since throwing a no-hitter. The southpaw settled for a no-decision after striking out eight batters in six innings of work.

vegasinsider.com

Primetime Wednesday
By Judd Hall

Usually pennant races don’t start heating up until late August, but that’s not the case this season. There are three primetime games on Wednesday feature clubs that are looking to improve their playoff positioning. Let’s delve right into the action.

Mariners at Tigers – 7:05 p.m. EDT

Everyone thought that the Mariners were dead in the water after posting an 11-18 mark in May. Fast forward to the present and Seattle sits just four games out of first place in the American League West.

A big reason for the M’s recent success is Felix Hernandez (10-3, 2.51 ERA) anchoring a starting rotation that is fourth in Major League Baseball with a 3.74 earned run average. Hernandez has been damn near been an automatic win for bettors as Seattle has gone 9-1 in his last 10 starts, while he has a strikeout-to-walk ratio that is nearly 4:1.

Even more impressive is that Seattle’s ace hurler has performed at such a high level without any offense. The Mariners are 28th in the big leagues in scoring, crossing home plate 363 times in 2009. During Hernandez’s last 10 starts, they’ve given him 2.2 runs per game.

Things looked great for the Tigers before the All-Star break, winning four of their final five tilts. But a three-game sweep on the road to the Yankees has Detroit holding onto a wafer thin one-game lead in the AL Central.

Detroit will be sending Armando Galarraga (5-8, 5.09 ERA) to the hill. If Jim Leyland is looking for anything out of his No. 2 starter, it’s consistency. Galarraga hasn’t strung together more than four good starts in a row this year. In his last outing on July 11, Galarraga gave up four earned runs on nine hits in six innings in a 5-4 defeat at home to the Indians.

Las Vegas Sports Consultants have made the Mariners $1.32 road favorites (risk $132 to win $100) with a total of eight.

Bettors would like to take the Tigers at home as they’ve gone 7-2 in their last nine tests at Comerica Park. However, they’ve dropped their last two games that Galarraga started on home turf. Seattle has flourished with Hernandez taking the ball on the road, winning six straight and eight of the last 10 matches.

In terms of totals, the ‘over’ would be considered the smart bet as it’s cashed in 16 of the last 24 head-to-head meetings. However, Detroit has watched the ‘under’ go 8-1 in its last nine matches against AL West squads and is 21-7-1 in the M’s last 29 road contests.

Giants at Braves – 7:10 p.m. EDT

Perhaps we’re starting to see the wheels fall off of the Giants’ bandwagon now as they’ve dropped four of their last five games. Now they find themselves looking up at not only the Dodgers, but the Rockies have overtaken San Fran for second place in the National League West.

One things is certain, San Francisco wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for Tim Lincecum’s (10-2, 2.27 ERA) fantastic season. The reining NL Cy Young Award winner will be looking to bounce back from a 2-1 loss in which he scattered five hits for one earned run over seven innings in Pittsburgh on July 17.

Atlanta is starting to look like they could make a run at the NL Wild Card now as they’ve won eight of its last 11 games this season. Look no further than the Braves’ bats as they’re batting .320 with nine homers and 35 runs batted in over the last week…the best of any club in that time frame.

When you have that kind of protection at the plate, it makes a starting pitcher’s job much easier. That’s what Jair Jurrjens (8-7, 2.77 ERA) is hoping for on Wednesday. Jurrjens has had three quality starts in his last four outings this season, with the offense spotting him an average of seven runs in those starts. It also helps when you have a closer like Rafael Soriano (1-1, 1.41 ERA), who has converted seven straight save situations and hasn’t given up an earned run in six appearances.

The Giants are listed as $1.10 road faves with the total setting up at 7 ½.

It’s going to be awfully hard to fade Lincecum in this spot as he’s 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA for his brief career against the Braves. Making matters worse for Braves’ fans is that Jurrjens is 0-2 with a 3.46 ERA all-time against San Francisco.

If you want to justify a wager on Atlanta, then just tell people that the road team is 2-5 in the last seven head-to-head meetings.

Red Sox at Rangers – 8:05 p.m. EDT

Talk about a game that means something to both sides.

Boston is now tied for the AL East lead with the Yankees after dropping three straight contests. Meanwhile, the Rangers are winning just to keep within 2 ½ games of Los Angeles in the AL West.

The Red Sox will be expecting a solid effort out of knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (11-3, 4.31 ERA). It’s not like the BoSox are looking for a miracle here as they have gone 6-1 over his last seven starts this season. Wakefield had his knuckleball dancing on July 8 at home against the A’s, compiling eight strikeouts with one walk in a 5-4 win.

Texas counters with Vicente Padilla (7-5, 4.67 ERA) on Wednesday night. It’s been a rough stretch for him recently as he’s dropped two of his last three outings, giving up five runs in each outing. It also doesn’t help that the Rangers have failed to score a “W” in his last three home starts. Padilla, however, did go seven innings to pick up a 6-3 win in Boston on June 7.

LVSC has installed Boston as a $1.08 road “chalk” with the total rolling in at 10 ½.

Everyone knows that the Rangers are a serious ‘under’ team, as evidenced by their 56-33 mark to that effect. When the total is at least 10 runs, the ‘under’ is 38-21-2 for Texas…that means you’re cashing in at a healthy 64 percent clip.

As far as the sides go, you’re best bet is to go with the Red Sox. Boston is 10-4 in the showdowns with the Rangers. When they play in Arlington, the Sawx have come out on top in four of the last six meetings.

vegasinsider.com

Wednesday's streaking and slumping starting pitchers
By Covers.com

Streaking

Bronson Arroyo (Cincinnati Reds)

Arroyo had some rough stretches in the first half that saw his appearance in the bottom of this column on a couple of occasions. But the right-hander has turned it around of late.

Arroyo is working on 16 consecutive scoreless innings, allowing just nine hits and two walks while striking out 11 in that span.

"I'm a roller coaster out there," Arroyo told the team's web site. "Right now, I'm going good. I'll take every zero on the board I can get. The more you go out there like that, you feel confident."

Matched up against the Dodgers, Arroyo will be trying to win three straight starts for the first time since the beginning of the season.

Vicente Padilla (Texas Rangers)

There are some obvious streaking pitchers going Wednesday, such as Felix Hernandez, Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter. And there are some not so obvious ones, like Padilla.

The right-hander's individual performances have been on a seesaw lately. In his last four starts, he twice has followed a one-run outing by allowing five runs.

But there have been two models of consistency from Padilla in his seven starts since early June. He has worked at least five innings and the total has been under each time.

Jamie Moyer (Philadelphia Phillies)

With the signing of Pedro Martinez and the continued pursuit of Roy Halladay, the Phillies clearly are looking for pitching. Maybe they should be looking more closely at Moyer, who has been delivering of late.

The 46-year-old lefty had a choppy start to the season but seems to have settled down. He has won five straight starts over the last month.

In his first 13 starts, Moyer had just two outings in which he allowed no more than one earned run. He's had three during his hot streak. He is coming off his best start of the season, allowing one hit in seven scoreless innings at Florida.

Moyer, who is susceptible to the long ball, hasn't surrendered a homer in five of his last eight starts.

Slumping

Jason Berken (Baltimore Orioles)

On May 26, the rookie righty won his major league debut. He hasn't won since and has had trouble keeping the ball down.

"I just got to find a way to be more consistent down in the zone, that way when mistakes do happen, there's less chance that I will be hurt with it," Berken told the team's web site.

Berken is 0-7 in his last nine starts, and the Orioles have won just one of those games. They have lost the last five times he has taken the mound.

During his slide, Berken has worked into the sixth inning just twice. In 45 1-3 innings, he has given up 57 hits and 16 walks for a WHIP (walks + hits per inning) of 1.61.

Chad Billingsley (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Ever since Billingsley's name was mentioned in a possible package for Halladay - which no longer looks like it will happen - he hasn't been the pitcher who was dominant over the first three months of the season.

Billingsley's last two starts have been his shortest and worst of the season. He has given up 14 hits, four walks and 11 runs in just 6 2-3 innings.

Between those starts, Billingsley pitched one inning in the All-Star Game, giving up a run and two hits and costing NL five-inning players a win. He is still carrying the high price that comes with his reputation.

Bullets!!

A pair of aces head to respective mounds when Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants play the third of a four game set at Turner field Wednesday. Braves on a solid 14-6 (+$818) run including a near perfect 9-1 (+$802) mark at home hand the ball to their top hurler Jair Jurrjens (8-7, 2.77 ERA). The righty cruising to a two-hit shutout through six innings in a 11-0 home victory over Mets is 4-4 (5-5 TSR) in front of the home crowd with 1.26 WHIP, 11.28 ABRA, 14.63 BOR. Jurrjens who has not faced San Francisco this season is 0-2 life-time vs the boys from the west coast. Giants with a dismal 19-28 road record costing backers -$643 at the betting window counter with their top hurler Tim Lincecum (10-2, 2.27 ERA). Lincecum is off another 7 inning 1 run gem at Pittsburgh but saddled with a ND in the 2-1 loss is 5-1 (6-4 TSR) on the road with a superb 0.995 WHIP, 8.96 ABRA, 22.59 BOR. Lincecum blanking Braves earlier this season over eight of five hit ball in a 4-0 victory has never lost to Atlanta whom he has beaten five times in five career starts allowing just 1.6 runs/game. Consider Giants - Road teams with starters who get guys out (Batter-Out-Rating) naturally leads to less men on base (Avg-Base-Runners-Allowed) making it tougher for the opposition to score runs. Road teams with starters putting up a high BOR (>15), low ABRA (18, ABRA <10 these road teams win at a 75.3% clip (192-63) outscoring the opponent 4.8 to 2.1.

Baseball Today

SCOREBOARD

Wednesday, July 22

San Francisco at Atlanta (7:10 p.m. EDT). The Giants' Tim Lincecum (10-2, 2.27 ERA) goes up against the Braves' Jair Jurrjens (8-7, 2.77) in a matchup of pitchers among the National League's ERA leaders.

STARS

Tuesday

-Jayson Werth, Phillies, hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 13th inning to send Philadelphia to its 10th straight victory, 4-1 over the Chicago Cubs.

-Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee, Indians. Martinez hit a two-run double in the ninth inning and Lee pitched his second straight complete game, leading Cleveland to a 2-1 win over Toronto.

-Magglio Ordonez, Tigers, hit a grand slam in a five-run first inning and Detroit held on for a 9-7 win over Seattle.

-Rafael Furcal, Dodgers, hit a two-run homer and drove in four runs as Los Angeles got its 11th consecutive home victory over Cincinnati 12-3.

-John Lannan, Nationals, threw his first career shutout, scattering seven hits for Washington as they beat the anemic New York Mets 4-0.

-Erick Aybar, Angels, broke open a close game with a three-run triple and had seven hits in two games, helping Los Angeles complete a doubleheader sweep of the Royals with a 10-2 victory. Aybar had three hits and scored three runs as the Angels won the opener 8-5.

-Michael Cuddyer, Twins, hit a go-ahead triple in the 10th inning and Minnesota beat Oakland 3-2.

SHOW ME THE PLAYERS

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has set a July 28 deadline to complete a deal for 2003 Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay. Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline is July 31. Ricciardi said July 6 he would field offers for Halladay, who is signed through 2010 and has a full no-trade clause. Ricciardi said he hasn't gotten an appropriate offer yet.

OUCH

All-Star knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is headed to the disabled list because of a lower back problem. Manager Terry Francona said Wakefield, who turns 43 next week, got hurt throwing on the side Saturday.

STINGER

Manny Ramirez is day to day after being hit by a pitch in the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. A team spokesman said Ramirez was hit on the side of his left hand by a pitch from Homer Bailey leading off the third inning Tuesday night. He was replaced by pinch runner Juan Pierre. Ramirez went to a hospital for precautionary X-rays, which were negative.

SUSPENDED

Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum was suspended three games and fined an undisclosed sum for yelling at umpires after a game in Cinncinnati. Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson cited Sveum's "inappropriate and aggressive actions'' toward the umpires after the Reds' 5-3 win Sunday night. The suspension began with Tuesday night's game at Pittsburgh.

IN A LONG TIME

Sergio Mitre earned his first win since July 29, 2007, as the surging Yankees beat Baltimore 6-4. Mitre, who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before the game, allowed four runs, three earned, and eight hits over 5 2-3 innings in his first major league start since Sept. 15, 2007. Mitre missed the 2008 season and had elbow-ligament replacement surgery on July 15 last year. He agreed to a minor league contract with the Yankees during the offseason, then was suspended for the first 50 games after testing positive for a banned substance under the major league drug program. ... The Angels' Robb Quinlan hit first homer since May 4, 2008, against Baltimore, as Los Angeles beat the Royals 10-2 in the second game of a a doubleheader.

SIDELINED

Washington Nationals left-hander Scott Olsen will have surgery Thursday to repair the labrum in his left shoulder and will miss the rest of the season. The Nationals put Olsen on the disabled list Sunday. The decision to do the surgery was made after he was examined by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., Monday. Olsen made 11 starts for the Nationals, going 2-4 with a 6.03 ERA.

SLIDE

Boston lost to Texas 4-2 and has lost four straight for the first time since last July, scoring only eight runs in the stretch. The Yankees beat Baltimore 6-4 to break the tie for the AL East lead.

DANKS DOWN

John Danks will miss his scheduled start Wednesday for the White Sox against the Rays because of a blister on his left index finger. The White Sox do not expect Danks to miss more than one start, although the blister on his pitching hand has bothered him the past few outings. Losing Danks for an extended period would be a big blow for the White Sox. He is 8-6 with a 3.98 ERA.

STATS

The Royals bullpen has allowed 27 earned runs over its last 26 innings after posting a 2.78 ERA the previous 18 games. ... Jack Cust's fourth-inning strikeout ended a stretch of 68 consecutive batters without a strikeout for Oakland, the club's longest such streak since doing so for 75 batters in a row from May 14-16, 1990.

SPEAKING

"It's always great when you win a game, especially like this and especially for the guy who was on the mound. Cliff has been throwing the ball great for us and it's kind of sad to watch Cliff pitch and not get any run support.'' - Cleveland's Victor Martinez after hitting a two-run double in the ninth to make Cliff Lee a winner, 2-1 over the Blue Jays. The Indians came in averaging just 3.48 runs per game in Lee's 20 starts.

Aces Wild

Aces are littering the mound Wednesday night in Major League Baseball and BroburySports takes a look at some of the best.

Tim Lincecum (San Francisco) vs. Jair Jurrjens (Atlanta)

San Francisco is a slight -105 road underdog with a start time of 7:05 pm ET. The Giants lost the first two games of this series by a combined score of 19-4 which is why Lincecum is a rare underdog.

Lincecum (10-2, 2.27 ERA) didn’t look great starting the All-Star game but he is pretty much un-hittable in the regular season. He is 4-0 with a 1.16 ERA in his last five starts and pitched eight innings of shutout ball versus Atlanta on May 26th.

Jurrjens (8-7, 2.77 ERA) should have more wins than his current record, but he has gone 3-1 in his last four starts. He also hasn’t given up a run in his last two home starts, spanning 13 overall innings.

Chris Carpenter (St. Louis) vs. Roy Oswalt (Houston)

St. Louis is -120 at Houston with a start time of 8:05 pm ET. The Astros are going for the series sweep as they won last night behind another good performance from pitcher Wandy Rodriguez.

Carpenter (8-3, 2.26 ERA) continues to shine as staff ace since coming off the disabled list in May. He has really done well this month by going 3-0 with a tiny 1.71 ERA. He needs a good outing to salvage the series.

Oswalt (6-4, 3.65 ERA) has really come on strong in his last four starts (3-0, 1.69 ERA). Three of those games were on the road and he pitched complete games at the Dodgers and Padres. This is exactly the guy you want on the mound facing Carpenter.

James Shields (Tampa Bay) vs. Carlos Torres (Chicago White Sox)

Chicago is a +115 home dog with a start time of 8:11 pm ET. The teams have split the first two games with the series finale on Thursday.

Shields (6-6, 3.75 ERA) is an extremely consistent pitcher whose ERA was 3.85 in 2007, 3.56 last year and 3.75 this season. Note that Tampa is 7-3 in his last 10 starts as he does a great job keeping his team in games.

Torres (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is making this start because John Danks was scratched with blister problems. He has an 8-4 record in AAA with a 2.20 ERA and has struck out 96 men in 98 innings. Still, these odds seem optimistic for the Sox.